


Last One Standing

by sheriffandsteel



Series: the most ridiculous game of paintball ever played [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gendrya - Freeform, Modern AU, Modern Westeros, Multi, Paintball, stark family fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-05 08:23:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20485817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheriffandsteel/pseuds/sheriffandsteel
Summary: All’s fair in love and war...and paintball.





	1. Chapter 1

“If you die can I have your car?” 

Gendry was desperately trying to ignore the conversation happening across from him but since it seemed that Theon had never learned how to whisper properly that was proving harder than he had expected. 

“You do know it’s not real ammo, right?” Sansa sighed. 

“Don’t take my fun away.” Gendry didn’t need to look up to know Theon was pouting. He might have only met him a handful of times over the past year but Gendry could recognize the whine in his voice and knew exactly what face he was making. Arya met his eyes and rolled hers comically. Gendry only just managed to suppress a snort. 

“I hope we get paired up again this year.” Rickon leaned across the arm of his chair to talk to Ygritte who smirked at him as she burrowed closer against Jon’s side. 

“That’s just because I know the territory.” she said with an eye-roll that rivaled Arya’s. 

“I know the territory too.” Jon interjected before Rickon could respond. “Why wouldn’t you want to be paired with me?” 

Rickon made a pained expression but was saved with coming up with a response by Robb’s boisterous laugh from Jon’s other side. “Please, we all know she’s a better shot than you. Rickon’s a defending champion, he wants to win.” 

“Are you saying he wouldn’t win if I was on his team?” Jon turned to glare at Robb who only laughed again in response. 

Gendry couldn’t help but watch all of it take place with a feeling of fascination. He had only been around the whole Stark brood twice so far, once the first day he had met all of them when they had played their last insane round of paintball and for a freezing week over Christmas where he was pretty sure he only just managed to escape getting frostbite. The Starks took their snowball fights almost as seriously as they did their paintball. 

Despite those two meetings and how much Arya talked about her family he was still not used to all of the ways the siblings spoke to each other. Their easy jokes and teasing were at odds with his own strained relationships with his half siblings. Of course, the Starks relationships always changed a little when it came to paintball and with the game less than an hour away from starting everyone’s competitiveness was drawing to the surface. Gendry felt a little bit like he was watching one of those nature shows Arya liked to binge watch when she couldn’t sleep. He wasn’t sure if he was the hunter or the prey yet. He wasn’t really sure he wanted to find out. 

“So, Gendry, are you ready to face off with Arya?” Jeyne asked from where she sat on the floor leaning against Robb’s legs. She didn’t look up from Shireen’s hair that she was braiding but his cousin turned her gaze onto him curiously. 

Gendry shifted uncomfortably, not sure if he should project confidence like everyone else was doing even if he didn’t feel it or admit the truth that he was bloody terrified to be on a different team than Arya. He had seen how ruthlessly she had fought during the last game and he had seen how seriously she trained for this game during their monthly game of laser tag or paintball. She claimed they were doing it because she didn’t want people to think her boyfriend was anything less than a great player but Gendry had noticed how easily familiar the people who worked at the laser tag place were with her. She would have been training for this even if he wasn’t there. 

“He’s as ready as anyone can be.” Arya saved him from having to come up with an answer by doing it for him, turning and resting her chin on his shoulder. Gendry turned and placed a kiss on the top of her head in gratitude and pointedly ignored the catcalls from the majority of the room. That had to be the most public display of affection they’d had in front of her family. 

“Talk as much shit as you want Arya. You are going down this year.” Theon proclaimed, waggling a finger in her direction. Even without seeing her face Gendry knew she was rolling her eyes again. Not for the first time he wondered if things would be better or worse for everyone if Theon and Arya were on the same team. What had once only been Arya’s vendetta seemed to be growing into a full blown rivalry. 

“Really? Who's going to take me down, you?” Arya asked calmly, not even bothering to take her head off Gendry’s shoulder to look at Theon. 

“I’ve done it before.” he boasted, sticking his chest out like one of the birds showboating in Arya’s nature shows. 

“That was a fluke!” Arya snapped; the words chorused back at her from half of the people in the room. She huffed and crossed her arms, leaning further against Gendry as he wrapped his arm around her. He had been one of the few to not say the words, although he was thinking them. Gendry wasn’t a fool. He wasn’t about to do anything to risk Arya Stark’s wrath right before someone put a gun in her hands, paintball gun or not. 

XxX 

“It's half an hour until midnight.” Eddard Stark announced as he came into the room where his children and their significant others sprawled about. Arya felt her muscles tense in anticipation and she untangled herself from Gendry and put her hands in her lap to keep her legs from bouncing in excitement. 

“Let’s go over the rules.” he continued, causing most of them to roll their eyes as they had all heard this so many times, they knew his speech by heart. Some of the players were still relatively new and needed the reminder. Arya felt Gendry shift beside her to pay closer attention to her father and she felt a burst of pride at him for doing it. She was glad he was taking the game as seriously as he was, even agreeing to practice with her once a month. Even though they couldn’t play on the same team she wanted him to be a valuable player. She was not about to hear anyone talking badly about him. 

“Players will be divided into teams, this year we will have three even teams of four so no additions are on the docket this year.” Eddard paused as cheers erupted from around the room. 

“Gendry round two!” Theon cried as Jon leaned across the space between the couches to high five him. Gendry did so with a confused expression on his face that made Arya bite back a grin. He was still so out of his depth when it came to her family. At least this year she could enjoy the game without having to worry about adding on any new weight. This was the first year in as long as she could remember where she knew that every person there could play the game at least somewhat to her satisfaction. She did hope she got placed with Bran this year though. It had been way too long since they had last been on a team together. 

Catelyn cleared her throat loudly and the cheers died down sheepishly. “The team with the last player or players left alive is the winner.” she continued, before she surveyed the room with that hawk like gaze that Arya had hated so much as a teenager. She had to admit she was kind of impressed by it now. 

“When you are shot send a picture of your wound to the group chat, I believe Bran has set it up already.” Bran nodded in affirmation to this and Eddard continued on. “If you are shot in a fatal area you are dead from the game so come back here and we will wait for everyone together. If you are shot in an arm or a leg you cannot use that limb for the rest of the game. Send a picture of that to the chat too.” he side-eyed Jon at that and Jon raised his hands in defense as everyone started lobbing comments at him. He’d cheated one time too many when they were younger. 

“All travel has to be done on foot. You can only be inside of a building for twenty minutes. No outside help.” Eddard finished the rules calmly, before surveying each of them in turn. “Please remember that this is our first time playing in this city and do not do anything too dangerous or foolish.” he looked at both Arya and Theon in turn at that and Arya huffed in annoyance as she crossed her arms over her chest. 

She didn’t play dangerously. She just took the game as seriously as it deserved. 

“No one do anything illegal. We can’t have anyone getting arrested again.” Catelyn added causing Gendry to look over at Arya in surprise. 

‘Again?’ he mouthed at her causing Arya to shrug in response. It wasn’t as big a deal as her mom was acting like it was. She had been under eighteen when it happened, the charges had been dropped. 

“I think that’s everything.” Catelyn said, looking at her husband who nodded in confirmation. 

“One more thing, if anyone shoots me in the face, I’ll kill you.” Ygritte interjected, turning a glare on each of them in turn. Arya knew she didn’t just mean in the game. 

“You could just wear a helmet.” Jon told her causing her to glare at him, her eyes narrowed. This was clearly a fight they’d already had before. 

“I told you we should play after the wedding.” Sansa sighed, shaking her head at them both as she got to her feet. 

“Where’s the fun in that?” Ygritte asked with a scoff as Jon leaned over to kiss her cheek. 

“Try not to shoot anyone in the face this year.” Catelyn sighed in exasperation as she surveyed the room one last time. “We want the wedding pictures to at least look like we’re a normal family.” 

“Normal is overrated.” Jojen said sagely as he disentangled his hand from Bran’s. 

Arya was used to this part of the pregame rituals. This was when all of the couples separated and said their goodbyes and their halfhearted promises to not shoot the other or at least not where it would hurt too much. She had never been part of this moment before, she had only ever seen it from the sidelines. 

Arya stood and Gendry clamored to his feet as well, looking down at her and pointedly ignoring her family, especially Robb’s loud proclamations of love for Jeyne and how he would never ever hurt her on purpose. 

Gendry shuffled uneasily, clearly not sure if he should kiss her or not. Neither of them were very big on public affection so she was a bit surprised when he leaned down and kissed her swiftly on the cheek, the tips of his ears already turning red as he pulled away from her. 

Arya rocked back on her heels as she looked up at him, unsure of what to say in this moment. She couldn't promise not to shoot him, they both knew she wouldn't mean it. Finally, she settled on the only true thing she could think of. 

“All’s fair in love and war.” she said with a shrug, really meaning it. She wasn’t going to take it easy on Gendry and she knew without asking that he wouldn’t take it easy on her. 

As if to prove her point he grinned wickedly at her, leaning down to whisper in her ear. “Even if I shoot you in the back?” 

Arya tensed and pulled away to glare at him. Sure, she’d just said all was fair and deep down she knew he was kidding but still, low blow. “You shoot me in the back and I'll follow you around the rest of the game shooting you in the back." She snapped at him, only half joking. Well, maybe a little less than half. 

Gendry raised his brows at her and for a moment she was worried she had upset him but then his grin only got wider. “You couldn’t, you’d be dead.” 

Arya huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. How dare he present her with logic at a time like this. “I could to. I’d be a ghost.“ 

“A poltergeist.” Bran’s voice suddenly cut through their conversation and Arya and Gendry shared a confused look before turning as one to look over at him. “If you were moving corporeal objects you wouldn't be a ghost you would be a poltergeist.” Bran explained at their questioning looks before he wheeled past them to the dining room where the supplies would be handed out and teams would be drawn. 

“Fine. I’d be a poltergeist.” Arya said with a shake of her head as she looked back at Gendry. She started a little to realize that everyone else had already filed past them and they were the only two left in the room. For the first time she was grateful that Gendry would not be on her team. She was too distracted around him. 

“And a very pretty one too.” Gendry whispered, tilting her chin up to kiss her properly this time. 

XxX 

Weapon in hand and goggles on Gendry shifted uneasily as they all wrote down their names on slips of paper and placed them in a hat. He really hoped that someone had told the people of Mole’s Town about their game, he didn’t want anyone to see them and think they were going to get hurt. Paintball guns didn’t look like real guns, at least not the ones they used, but it was dark out there. The last time he had played he’d joined the game in broad daylight. For some reason it hadn't felt as dangerous then. 

No one else looked nervous so Gendry shook off his fears and focused in on Eddard as Shireen dropped her name into the hat. Eddard didn’t make a show of it, he just shuffled around the names in the hat and started pulling slips out. Gendry was surprised when he didn’t start reading off names right away but instead started putting slips on the table. No one else looked put off by this and that was when Gendry realized he making sure couples were placed on separate teams. Finally, after a minute or two of shuffling he straightened and began to read off the lists of teams. Gendry found himself holding his breath as he listened. 

“Team one is Jojen, Ygritte, Jeyne and Rickon.” Rickon cheered and high-fived Ygritte while Gendry tried to ignore the nerves in his stomach at the fact that in one fell swoop all his teammates from last year were no longer options to him. He had been so nervous about not getting to play with Arya he hadn’t had time to be nervous about who he would be paired up with but he definitely felt nervous about it now. 

“Team two is Shireen, Arya, Theon and Bran.” Gendry let out his breath as he did the math and realized who his teammates were. He wasn’t really thinking about them though he was too busy watching Arya and Bran do an elaborate high-five and wondering how long it had taken them to perfect it. Belatedly he realized they were hailed as the two best players in the game and his team didn’t stand a chance. 

“Team three is Robb, Gendry, Jon, and Sansa.” Eddard finished before brushing invisible dust off his hands and surveying them all. “As always there will be five-minute gaps between teams leaving the house. Play safely. No one do anything stupid.” his eyes lingered on Arya but she was too busy celebrating with Bran to notice. Not for the first time Gendry wondered who had been arrested during the game but he felt like he already knew the answer to that, he just didn’t know when or why. 

The players on team one left quickly and the other two teams were left surveying each other in awkward silence. Neither could discuss strategy with their teammates without being overheard so they settled for ignoring each other or outright glaring at the others. When team two left Gendry had to resist reaching out and grabbing Arya’s hand to say goodbye once more. He knew that she would not take too kindly to that. Besides, he had met her during this game last year. It wasn’t like he didn’t know what he had signed up for. 

Still, he really _really_ hoped he didn’t have to face off against her one on one. 

“Good luck trying to win with the bird curse!” Theon called out as the door slammed shut behind him, cutting off his cackle. Gendry looked at his teammates in confusion as Sansa sputtered in outrage, Robb groaning as Jon tried to hide his laugh. 

With Theon out of range Sansa turned her anger on him, and she glared at him with her hands on her hips, voice icy cold as she spoke. “I promised not to hit Ygritte in the face but I will hit you, groom or not.” 

“Be nice to your teammates children.” Catelyn said with a sigh as she walked past them into the other room. Gendry was willing to bet she was headed for bed. 

“There’s an old garage not too far from here I think we should head to first.” Jon said calmly, apparently deciding to ignore Sansa’s comment and ire. Although he did take a considerable step away from her so Gendry knew it wasn’t because he didn’t take her seriously. 

With no one having any better ideas of where to go they agreed to head to the garage and Gendry listened closely as Jon gave them a brief layout of the best places in town to hide out. Mole’s Town was considerably smaller than King’s Landing and this time Gendry was on unfamiliar turf. Thankfully most of the other players were as well with only Ygritte and Jon living there. 

Gendry was suddenly glad that Ygritte was not on Arya’s team because between her and Bran they had enough of an advantage as it was without having inside information on the town as well. He wondered briefly if Arya would end up shooting Theon this year even though he was her teammate but he shook the thought away as soon as it occurred to him. He didn’t have time to speculate over that now. Besides if she took out one of her team it would only make things easier for Gendry. He didn’t think he stood much of a chance at beating Arya at her own game but he wanted to at least put up a fight. 

As they headed for the door Gendry tried to think like Arya, wondering at where she would head to in the pitch-black night in a town she wasn’t familiar with and with no inside information. He was sure she probably had a list of viable places for her team to go too, she thought that he hadn’t seen all the maps of Mole’s Town she had been studying for the past few months but Gendry had noticed. But Ygritte and Jon weren’t on her team and they would know more places than she would, things she couldn’t learn from research or a map. 

He knew that Arya would want to take out as many people as possible as quickly as possible to level the playing field in her favor. Gendry was still mulling this thought over as he followed Robb out onto the porch into the chilly night air. He was trying to think like Arya would but she could be so hard to read sometimes that it was proving to be a tougher task than he had excepted. He knew if it was him, he would be looking for an easy, if not especially glamourous, way to take out as many players at once. 

As soon as the thought crossed his mind Gendry realized his mistake and he extended his arms as he dove, taking his teammates down to the grass with him as the now familiar sound of paintball guns being fired filled the still night air.


	2. Chapter 2

Ayra grit her teeth to bite back the string of curse words that wanted to erupt from her as her shot sailed over Jon’s shoulder to burst against the doorframe. While part of her was impressed by her boyfriend’s sudden heroic leap, mostly she was just annoyed that as far as she could tell none of her teammates’ shots hit their intended targets. Or target really since they were only aiming at Jon. 

Shoving down her irritation Arya tracked Jon in her sights again as he army crawled swiftly out of the circle of light cast from the porchlight. She fired twice and sighed as he just managed to evade her. She thought she might have nicked his arm but she couldn’t be sure in the dark. 

From where she lay perched on the top of the shed in the neighbor’s backyard Arya couldn’t see any of her teammates and all of Gendry’s team had managed to disappear under the cover of darkness and the house’s shrubbery. For a moment the only sound Arya could hear was her own steady breathing and Robb’s frantic repetition of the word ‘shit’ like it was his new mantra. 

“Shut up.” Sansa hissed and Arya perked up at how close her voice sounded. One hand still holding tightly to her gun Arya gripped the edge of the shed and slowly pushed herself closer to the edge soundlessly. Her eyes had readjusted to the dark and she peered down into the yard below her and felt a smirk break out across her face. Sansa and Robb were cowered right underneath her. 

“Shut up?” Robb hissed back, his whisper not even deserving to be called that it was so loud. “We’re all going to die in the first few minutes. This is pathetic.” 

Arya was tempted to agree with him but she didn’t want to give away her position. She trained her gun on his back and was just about to pull the trigger when a bright flash of light suddenly filled the night, this time coming from the house behind her. 

This time Arya didn’t bother to hold in her curses and she swung her gun over her back as she jumped off the roof into the neighbor’s yard, throwing an apology at them where they stood gaping at her from the porch clutching their bathrobe tight. Her position was now given away and she couldn’t risk getting shot this early in the game. She would never be able to live it down and for good reason too. Like Robb said, it was pathetic. 

Arya sprinted down the streets, ducking down every dark alley she could just in case anyone on Gendry’s team was following her. She supposed they could already be out but she wasn’t about to check her phone to find out. Her team had already come up with a place to meet in case they got separated, well Arya had come up with it. She hadn’t been studying maps and researching abandoned buildings in this town for four months for nothing. 

She had only been to Mole’s Town once three years ago but Arya maneuvered the streets like she had lived there her whole life. She had taken a tour of every street in town on Google earth during the last week so it would be fresh in her mind when she got there. She made sure to do it only once Gendry was asleep, even though he had never judged her for how seriously she took the game she didn’t want to give him any ideas of preparing for it. Taking him to play a few games of paintball was one thing, teaching her strategies to the enemy was quite another. 

The town was silent as Arya sped through it the only sound her trainers pounding down the pavement. Arya wasn’t sure where everyone else had gone off too but she had a feeling the town wasn’t going to be this silent for very much longer. 

The poor citizens of Mole’s Town had no idea the storm that was about to hit them. 

As she neared the outskirts of town Arya let herself come to a stop and catch her breath. She leaned against the cool brick wall of a shop as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. Arya was unsurprised to find that there were no texts of anyone being out of the game but she did smirk at the message Jon had sent of the paint on his upper left arm. At least one of her shots had hit something more than just the building. 

Trusting that there was no one around to hear her Arya did not bother to hold in her laugh as she read Ygritte’s response to the picture. 

_You’re already wounded? Pathetic. _

XxX 

The neighbor’s light proved to be a welcome distraction and Gendry was able to make it across the street where he crouched behind a car and knelt with his heart hammering in his chest. He had been fortunate to have missed the beginning of the game last year but now he was filled with nerves. He had no idea where team one had gone to and knowing that Bran was somewhere in the close vicinity was making him sweat. He’d seen Arya make a run for it out of the corner of his eye, no doubt to start turning the next wheel in her twelve step plan. 

Gendry shook his head as he forced his breathing to even out. He didn’t have time to worry about what Arya was up to right now, he needed to focus on the present and getting himself to the building Jon had told them all to go to. Hopefully it wasn’t one the other teams were planning to use. Gendry knew that the games had a wide variety of times that they lasted but he didn’t want his first full game to be the shortest one ever played. 

Taking a deep breath Gendry cast a look over his shoulder at the house, it had been quiet since he had left it so either everyone back there was dead or they had all fled when he did. He supposed no one really wanted to be the person to get out in the first twenty minutes. 

He was tempted to pull his phone out and check it for messages but he didn’t want to risk the bright screen giving him away. He found himself suddenly longing for the walkie-talkies he’d had on Arya’s team last year. 

He was just about to step out from behind the car when a hand suddenly grasped his shoulder. Gendry pointed his gun up as he turned and it was only pure shock that kept him from firing the gun straight into Robb’s face. Not that he would ever admit that of course, if asked he would claim it was his great reflexes. 

“Why wouldn’t you say something before you grabbed him?” Sansa chided from behind Robb. Gendry had to admit he was a little impressed she could sound so stern in a whisper. He thought he could make out a blush on Robb’s face in the glare of the streetlight. 

Robb didn’t respond to his sister as he leaned over Gendry to glance down the street before raising to a crouch and beckoning them both to follow after him into the street. Gendry made eye contact with Sansa who rolled her eyes at her brother and waved him forward. The three of them ran down the street, dodging the street lights and not stopping until the sound of footfalls behind them hit their ears. 

Gendry turned with his finger on the trigger but he dropped it quickly as he noticed Jon running after them. 

“I got hit in the arm!” he cried softly, annoyance heavy in his tone. 

“Shit.” Robb ran a hand down his face as they all came to a stop in the middle of the street. “I can’t believe they ambushed us like that. What a low move.” 

“What else did you expect from that team?” Sansa asked as she tightened her ponytail. “Bran is the most strategic player, not to mention the best shot. Theon is ruthless and Arya is just plain feral when it comes to this. We’re so screwed.” 

“Not to mention...” Jon trailed off into silence as Robb made frantic ‘cut it out’ gestures. Gendry looked between them curiously, certain that this was yet another of those endless inside Stark family things he wasn’t privy to yet. 

“Not to mention what Jon?” Sansa all but growled. Gendry’s eyebrows rose as for the first time he noticed a similarity between Arya and her sister. 

“It's just, no other team I’ve been on has been ambushed this early so the cur-” Jon was cut off by Robb suddenly lunging forward and putting his hand over his mouth. Sansa looked about ready to burst into flames and Gendry glanced between the three of them and shook his head with a sigh. If this was how his team was going to behave it was going to be like herding cats the rest of the game. 

“Sort whatever the hell this is out later.” Gendry snapped, taking a quick glance around the street to make sure that they were still alone. “We’re sitting ducks out here, stop making the game easier for the other teams and let’s move.” 

He didn’t bother to look over his shoulder to make sure that the others were following him he just took off down the street again, keeping his fingers crossed that he was heading in the right direction. Considering Jon didn’t call after him to change course he supposed he’d chosen correctly. 

“Good thing him and Arya can’t be on the same team.” he heard Robb mutter as they ran. “We’d all be so fucked.” 

XxX 

“Are you sure splitting up is the best choice?” Shireen asked softly, chewing on her bottom lip. It was only her second year playing and it was clear she was still pretty nervous about the game. Arya tried not to fault her for it. She knew that Shireen had a very sweet nature, although she’d been a force to be reckoned with the one time Arya had ever seen her mad. She did not take too kindly to people insulting her family and while most the Baratheons seemed fit to ignore Robert Baratheon’s many illegitimate children Shireen had welcomed them all with open arms. After one family event with Gendry Arya realized how very big a deal that was and as such Shireen had become a bit of a soft spot for her. It was because of this that Arya didn’t mind having to repeat her plan again. 

“Jon and Ygritte are the only ones who know the area. If we take them both out the teams will be on even fields.” Arya reminded her patiently as she rocked back on her heels and gestured again to the rough map she had sketched into the dirt. 

“Theon and I will go after Ygritte.” Bran pointed to the far end of Arya’s rough map. “She works in the northern part of town, she’ll head over there.” Even though he could not know for sure if she would Bran said this with the same level of certainty that he said everything. Since he was so rarely wrong no one bothered to question him. 

“I don’t want to go after Ygritte, I want to go after Jon.” Theon pouted as he drew circles in the dirt. “Jon’s team has the better players we should go after them.” 

“Ygritte’s team is faster, they’re harder targets.” Bran explained calmly causing Theon to perk up. Arya met Bran’s gaze and rolled her eyes. Sometimes it was so easy to get Theon to do what you wanted. 

“Where do you think Jon will have gone?” Shireen asked leaning closer to Arya as Theon and Bran began to strategize. 

Arya peered down at her dirt map, her brow knitted in concentration. She knew that she could just pull a map of the town up on her phone but she was conserving her phone battery. Besides, she wanted to be sure she could run the route unaided. It wasn’t exactly easy to follow GPS when sprinting. 

Jon was always a bit of a wild card when it came to hideouts. Sometimes he would go to open spaces where there would be a lot of people, knowing that the majority of the players would not risk shooting in such a public place. Other years he would hole up in incredibly secluded places and try to wait out the clock. One year when he was the last player on his team he sat in the upper branches of the heart tree for three hours until he finally ran out of ammo and Bran shot him down. 

Mole’s Town was different though. This was his terf and he knew it. With only him and Ygritte knowing the town he would want to go to a place that she would not think to hide in. Of course, there was always the possibility that they had decided to split the town and promised the other that they would not go to certain locations. Arya hoped that they hadn’t because then one of them might double-cross the other and the game might be over before she even got a real chance to play. 

No, she doubted that they were working together on anything. 

Sighing Arya shook the thought from her head and squinted harder at her map. If she was Jon, she would assume that Ygritte would know all the same hiding places and therefore should hide in plain sight. Somewhere so painfully obvious that it would never even occur to her to check for him there. Arya might not know Mole’s Town enough to know where all those places were but she did have a map, she did know a few of them. 

“There’s an abandoned factory out here.” she pointed to the western edge of the map where she had drawn a large square. “There would be plenty of places to hide outside of that.” 

She bit her lip in thought before shaking her head. That was where Jon would want them to think they went to. “But there’s also a closed garage over here.” she pointed closer to the center of the map. “Not as much cover and way more central of a location. Not as obvious a place to go to.” 

“That’s where they went then.” Shireen decided shaking thoughts from Arya’s head that Jon really would be hiding at the factory because it was so obvious. Its obviousness was an extra layer of protection. She was overthinking things again. Shireen might not be the best shot but if she could keep Arya from spiraling too far into strategies, she’d end up being a great help. 

“Well kiddos we’ll meet back here when it's done.” Theon said brightly as he sprung to his feet. 

“Remember Jon and Ygritte are the main targets. Only take out other people after they are out.” Bran reminded them sagely as Arya and Shireen clamored to their feet. 

“Take any ammo you can.” Arya reminded them as she dug in her backpack for a packet of caffeine pills which she passed out to everyone. While in years past she had been content to let her team rest and strategize until morning light this was not the year to do that. Smaller playing field meant closer quarters and Arya was not about to waste a single second of this game. The cover of darkness was an advantage that she had every intention of using. She was willing to bet that the other teams had grown lack in the previous years and that they were settling in to wait out the rest of the night. Arya hoped that they enjoyed what little sleep they managed to get. They would all be dead before the dawn. 

"This is insane.” Shireen shook her head as if she couldn’t believe that she was actually a part of this. Arya supposed it was a testament to how much she loved Rickon that she took the pill Arya handed her and swallowed it with a grimace, her knuckles white as they gripped her gun. 

“This is war.” Bran corrected, fingers tapping against the wheel of his chair, ready to move. 

“There’s always causalities in war.” Shireen said nervously causing Theon to let out a loud boisterous laugh. 

“Those causalities sure as shit won’t be us!” With the moonlight Arya could just make out a mischievous glint in his eyes as he turned to grin at her. “We can’t be killed right Arya?” 

Arya ran her boot over the map she had drawn, erasing all traces of its existence. She’d spent years perfecting the way to lie to her parents and as such her voice betrayed none of her thoughts as she responded calmly, “Anyone can be killed.”


End file.
